Reviews

Detective Kajii and his partner have to investigate the murder of a man named Kimura. Kajii suspects a beautiful young woman, Kazumi. Unfortunately for him, he falls in love with her. Then the madness starts...

Sexy horrors from Hitoshi Ishikawa, veteran director of many Japanese pink films. This new thriller easily equals the overall sickness of some of his former work, when he directed movies under the pseudonym "Gô Ijûin" (together with two other directors, Genji Nakamura and Ryûichi Hiroki). Those who liked "Audition" will probably enjoy "Blood and Ecstasy/Chi to Ekusutashii" as well. Those with a weak stomach beware...

Teenage girl Hinako returns to her home village on the Japanese island of Shikoku (which she left for Tokyo with her parents when she was a little girl) for the first time. Back then, a girl named Sayori and a boy named Fumiya were her best friends. Now Hinako meets Fumiya again, but Sayori died when she was 16. Hinako soon discovers that strange things are going on. Sayori's mother, a priestess, wants to bring her daughter back from the dead. 88 temples circle the fog-shrouded island as a seal to protect its inhabitants from the dead. But by traversing the temples in reverse order for every year of a deceased person's life, the seals can be undone and the dead person will come back to life. And Sayori's mother is about to travel the temples for the 16th time...

Shikoku is the smallest of the four big Japanese islands (the others are Honshû, Kyûshû, and Hokkaidô). Written in Kanji, "Shikoku" means "island of the four lands", but the title of this film changes the first Kanji - you still read it "Shikoku", but now it means "island of the dead". This island is still a remote place far away from the great Japanese cities, there are large, fog-shrouded forests and mountains and it makes a great setting for an eerie ghost story. The film was released together with Hideo Nakata's "The Ring 2" and produced by the same company, Asmik-Ace Entertainment. Beautifully filmed and filled with atmosphere and some very spooky moments, this is a highly recommended modern "shinrei-mono" (ghost story).

Welcome to the most insane family ever. Teenage girl Keiko seduces her own father for money. Son Takuya gets beaten by his classmates everyday and therefor tortures his mother with a whip. Mother goes on a drug trip to escape this everyday hell. One day, a mysterious visitor joins the family, and things become even stranger. Father Kiyoshi plans to film his son while he's being beaten, intending to broadcast the tape. But then, he prefers to kill and rape (in this order) his female partner (who was working at the same TV station) instead. If that weren't enough, he becomes necrophile... Influenced by the visitor, the family finally kind of finds together again in the sickest way imaginable.

After such cult favorites as "FUDOH: THE NEW GENERATIONS" a.k.a. "GOKUDÔ SENGOKUSHI: FUDÔ" and "AUDITION", Japanese director Takashi Miike delivers again with this incredible (?) movie. Over-the-top in every sense of the word, filled with bad taste and crude humor in the extreme, this shot-on-digital-video satire (kind of) is destined to become another cult classic. It is the sixth and final part of a series called "Lovecinema" (the movies don't have anything in common except for a love thematic). Despite the direct-to-video production, "VISITOR Q" enjoyed a short theatrical run in Japan. WARNING: Only suitable for those who are into Japanese extreme cinema!!

It is the year 2065, and earth is under attack by phantom-like aliens that stranded here when a meteor crashed into our planet 34 years ago. Humans who get in touch with the aliens lose their "spirit" - and their life. Human race is living in constant fear behind giant walls, while special forces battle against the aliens in the wastelands. But now young scientist Aki Ross and her mentor Dr. Sid just found what could be the ultimate countermeasure against the ghostly creatures from outer space. To complete their plans, they must find the "eight spirits of earth" - but the stubborn General Hein has different plans. He wants to shoot at the aliens' crater with a laser weapon stationed in space. This results in disaster...

Based on popular video games of the same name, this co-production between Japan's Square Pictures and America's Columbia-TriStar is said to be the first completely computer-generated feature film ever. Being a 106-minutes special effect, this movie faced heavy critic because of the lack of story and uninteresting characters. I really don't understand that - while the film borrows ideas from many science-fiction classics, it still HAS an interesting story and characters to offer! The animation is simply brillant and revolutionary, and the hole movie is eye candy par excellence. Genre fans should run to see it...

Police forces storm the headquarters of a religious satanic cult. All of the members did commit suicide, except for a pregnant woman lying on an altar when the police forces enter. Before she dies, she gives birth to a daughter, Seung-Hee. 20 years later, the devil tries to reincarnate through the body of Seung-Hee. But she is protected by a priest, his son and a mysterious warrior, Hyun-Am, who's weapon is a knife inhabited by the soul of his lost love. Together they try to prevent Satan from taking possession of Seung-Hee's body and bringing death all over the world...

This horror thriller from South Korea goes where no other movie of it's country has gone before in terms of CGI special effects. Aside from the CGI, there's plenty of gore to satisfy any horror fan. It also stars Hyun-Joon Shin who starred in "The Gingko Bed", one of the best Korean movies ever. "The Soul Guardians" was probably the most action-packed Korean horror movie I've seen to date. Plot-wise, this film is very similar to "End of Days", but it has a faster pace and much more of an original feeling to it. Worthy addition to every collection of horror movies.

In an abandoned factory on the Japanese island of Okinawa, the U.S. army secretly developed a serum called "DNX" that is able to bring the dead back to life. Something went wrong and all scientists were killed. Now meet Saki and her gang. They just robbed a jeweller and are on their way to meet some Yakuza for a big deal. Guessed their meeting point? It doesn't take long time and an army of bloodthirsty zombies is after them. Soon everybody is running and fighting for his life...

20 years after the heydays of ultra-gory Italian zombie movies, the Japanese start to produce somehow very similar movies like this one. Heavily influenced by such films as George A. Romero's zombie trilogy, Italian and Spanish shockers from the late 70's and early 80's and the 1992 Japanese film "Living Dead in Tokyo Bay", this is a fun splatter film, and as such it delivers what fans would expect. The gory special effects are done very well most of the time - if you can't stand dismemberment, heads blown into pieces and gut-munching zombies, stay far away! On the other side, splatter movie fans will have plenty of fun with this movie.

N.Y.P.D. Officer James Edwards gets the chance to work for world's most secret organization: MiB, the Men in Black. Their goal is to protect mankind from dangerous immigrants from outer space as well as to monitor and control all activities of alien immigrants secretly living among our society. As MiB Agent J, Edwards and his partner, K, are after a deadly alien bug that threatens the existence of our planet and has come to earth to assassin the ambassadors of another alien race, the Arquillans. Can the MiB stop the giant bug before the Arquillans declare war on our planet?

I usually don't expect very much from Hollywood anymore, but "Men in Black" was a big surprise. It's an intelligent and VERY funny movie, featuring perfect CGI and special effects and Tommy Lee Jones at his best. The story is original too, something very rare nowadays. My only big complaint is Will Smith's annoying rap music that definitely doesn't belong to a sci-fi movie. Danny Elfman's soundtrack however is great as (almost) always. This is one of the funniest movies ever in the SF genre. And I especially liked the last scene...

Sometime in the future all the forests on Earth have been destroyed. The last forests are transported in giant greenhouses aboard space ships near the planet Saturn. Freeman Lowell, crew member of the space vessel Valley Forge, is an outsider and the only one who cares about what is left of our planet's nature. When orders reach their vessel to destroy the forests, he goes mad. He kills off the other crew members and starts a lonely odyssey...

There's something to be learnt in this movie. More than 30 years old now, it stands the test of time with its message, as mankind is still working on what possibly could end in a scenario like this. Bruce Dern may be overacting in some scenes, but his character is still much more likeable than his crew comrades. Scenery and music are beautiful, fitting well to the dark, moving and unique story. And this is the movie that made "Star Wars" possible. Director Douglas Trumbull and other SFX masters like John Dykstra and Richard Yuricich were chosen to work on "Star Wars" because of the state-of-the-arts special effects they did for "Silent Running". In 1971, they were ahead of their time. In fact, they are easily as good as today's CGI effects, but much more memorable for their time. Even the droids that help Lowell are predecessors of the ones in "Star Wars"... A must-see movie for SF fans and everybody interested in Hollywood classics.

It's the year 1707. Mount Fuji erupts to punish mankind's evil behavior. The eruption causes earthquakes and unleashes ancient monsters and demons to wreak havoc. A young girl named Sakuya Sakaki must fight these demons with the help of her magic sword Vortex and two Ninja warriors. They battle various monsters such as a Kappa demon, the ghost-cat, and dark riders until they face the leader of the demons, a giant spider woman...

This is an entertaining fantasy movie made by Tomô Haraguchi, Japan's Tom Savini and specialist when it comes to make-up and gory special effects. He also worked on such great films as "Capitol Story" and its sequels, the "All Night Long" series, "Otsuyu", Daiei's new "Gamera" trilogy, and did the bloody special effects for Hitoshi Ozawa's "Kunoichi" films. The movie itself is most of the time harmless fun and shows a variety of classic Japanese monsters such as the Kappa demon (river monster), and the ghost-cat, known as "kaibyô" in Japan. And I especially like the cameo scene where a parade of monsters from Daiei studio's classic "Yôkai" trilogy ("Yôkai hyaku monogatari", "Yôkai daisensô" and "Tôkaidô obake dôchû) shows up - those films included all the monsters from Japanese folklore and legend. And there is "Tetsuo" director Shinya Tsukamoto in a supporting role. The special effects, done by "Gamera" effects maker Shinji Higuchi, are top-notch. Both the miniature work and CGI combine very well. Unfortunately, the story is very, very simple, and the movie is a bit too childish. But it's fun to watch anyway.

A mentally retarded young woman is living near a remote small lake. She makes her living by supplying useful goods, fishing tools and prostitutes to the fishermen and sometimes sleeps with them for money. The fishermen are living in very small cabins floating on the lake. One day, she falls in love with one of them. Besides this, one of the call-girls becomes attracted to him and visits him in her spare time. But he has a dark past and came to this remote place to commit suicide. After an unsuccessful try involving fishing hooks (!), he is saved by the retarded girl, who became jealousy of the call-girl and then kills her by accident...

Here we have another strange Asian movie that somehow plays like an arthouse horror film. Director Ki-Duk Kim wanted to make a metaphorical movie about isles and love ("a woman's isle is a man, a man's isle is a woman"). He creates a mysterious and fascinating, but at the same time disturbing atmosphere in this movie about poor people living in their own world like on... an isle far away from modern civilization. On the other side, undefendable shots of gruesome violence against animals and some almost unwatchable scenes involving fishing hooks make for a hard experience to sit through, and plot-wise too just not everything made sense in the intended way to me. Bizarre and very different from "common" horror movies, I'd still recommend "The Isle" to everyone interested in Asian cinema.

Set in a stylized Poland in the near future. It's a dark time where young people seek illusions from an illegal war-game that takes place in a virtual reality. It is called "Avalon" after an island where, according to legend, the souls of the game's heroes had stranded when they had finished the game. Some players of the game create teams called "parties" to advance to higher levels, others are left brain-dead by the game. Female player Ash is one of the best players ever and seems to be able to reach the final level, called "Level of Reality". She has help from a man named Murphy, who once was in a party together with her, and an obscure man called Bishop. Now her goal is to find the "ghost", a mysterious being (looking like a little girl) that seems to be useful to take her to the final level...

This is truly a very unique film, not only in terms of story or atmosphere. It's probably the first-ever Japanese-Polish co-production in the history of movies, shot entirely with a Polish cast by famed Japanese director Mamoru Oshii. As mentioned above, the film creates an amazing and dark atmosphere, mostly because of it's weird, beautiful colors and photography. The music score by Kenji Kawai and especially the song during the opening and closing credits are absolutely wonderful. Set design, cast, special effects and cinematography are all top-notch. CGI effects in this film are among the best I've ever seen, really incredible! But having such an interesting premise, the story left me a bit confused and, yes... disappointed. After a first viewing I really couldn't see that much behind it. Although I have to admit that after repeated viewings I'll probably change my point of view on this. Footnote: There is an irritatingly disgusting scene of a man eating vegetables shown in close-up shoots. I just don't understand why this scene must be in this otherwise beautiful movie. Weird...

The evil warlord Conquer is told by a mysterious monk called Mud Buddha that he must find "Wind" and "Cloud" to become successful and invincible for the following ten years. After this ten years, there would be another prophecy about his destiny. Conquer then kills the parents of young children "Wind", "Cloud" and "Frost" and raises them so they can help him in his quest to conquer and rule over every known country in the world. Their magic powers make them winners in every battle. "Wind" and "Cloud" also both fall in love with Charity, Conquer's daughter. After ten years have passed, Mud Buddha tells Conquer that his successful days are over. When Wind and Cloud unite to become a storm, Conquer would be overcome and his might would be destroyed. Angry about this new prophecy, Conquer separates his still loyal warriors in an attempt to change his destiny...

"The Storm Riders" is the most expensive movie in the history of Hong Kong cinema and came close to hit three times the box-office record of the later "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (for some reason that film became by far better known in the west) in Hong Kong theatres. A classic, epic story of martial-arts heroes, magic, romance and revenge, this is riveting from start (opening with a great CGI credits sequence) to finish and a must-see for every fan of Asian fantasy and action movies. The special effects are first-rate and the CGI fight sequences must be seen to be believed! It's a bit slow-paced at times, but the action definitely makes up for it. Love that scene with the fireflies! Make shure to see the 128-minutes director's cut of the movie and not the butchered international version that lacks most of the plot development and even some of the (pretty tame) violence.

Weird aliens from a planet called Pairan who look a lot like man-sized starfish creatures with a huge eye in the center show up in Japan and scare people. But their real intention is not to invade earth; instead they try to warn a scientist about his newly created weapon. To do so, one of them changes his look to that of a famous Japanese singer. But then the aliens discover a giant glowing meteor heading towards Earth! Can the starfish monsters help mankind to destroy the meteor before it crashes into Earth? It soon is discovered that there's only one way to destroy it...

Made by Daiei studios (later creators of the flying turtle Gamera, a popular movie monster in Japan) in 1956, this was the fist color science-fiction film from Japan. Supported by a then huge budget it was a serious effort to compete with enemy Toho studios and their 1954 hit "Godzilla". In 1957, Toho studios even made a somewhat similar movie, "Chikyû bôeigun", also known as "The Mysterians". "Space Men Appear in Tokyo" has far less special effects footage than Toho's movies, but the relatively few special effects seen in this film are of pretty good quality, especially considering their age! Filmed in beautiful colors, the film is still well worth watching. Story-wise, it is similar to the American production "When Worlds Collide", but it's actually based on a Japanese novel by Gentarô Nakajima.

An American submarine gets destroyed when it touches an iceberg in the seas of Hokkaido, Northern Japan. The crash sets Godzilla free from the iceberg wherein he was caught seven years ago! Godzilla soon heads towards the coast of Hokkaido, where he is welcomed by Japanese army tanks and missiles. Meanwhile Mr. Tako, the hyper-nervous head of a pharmaceutical company, becomes obsessed with finding the legendary ape god King Kong who is said to be living on Pharoh Island in the Pacific ocean. He sends his men Sakurai and Furue to the island in order to bring King Kong to Japan to improve his company's publicity (??). After several trouble on the island, they manage to return, but King Kong escapes and soon arrives in mainland Japan, where Godzilla is heading south, enroute to Tokyo! The two meet, and in the following fight, Godzilla emerges as the winner. But then Kong regains his powers through electric energy and attacks Tokyo! The army manages to put Kong to sleep and bring him and Godzilla together again. The showdown between King Kong and Godzilla takes place near Mount Fuji.

This is it - the battle between the two most famous movie monsters of all time. West against East; King Kong, the Eight Wonder of the World against Godzilla, the King of the monsters. One of the greatest monster film classics, it was released to celebrate the 30th anniversary of King Kong. It was the third film in the Showa Godzilla series and also the first Godzilla movie in color and Cinemascope (or Tohoscope, how Toho studios called that). And it was my very first Godzilla movie to see! "King Kong Vs Godzilla" became the most successful Godzilla movie ever in Japan and the only one that was even more successful than the original eight years before. And it is the monster movie everybody has heard of, but it seems very few people actually saw it. And very, very few people outside Japan have ever seen this film in it's uncut, 97-minutes glory. Ishirô Honda was back at the helm, and Akira Ifukube composed one of his most impressive soundtracks ever. Typically, it was completely removed by the film's western distributors! Instead, we hear sound from Jack Arnold's "Creature from the Black Lagoon" and other stock music... Again, the film was cut and badly dubbed, and senseless, downright ridiculous new scenes were inserted - the results here are even more horrible than with the first Godzilla film. Unfortunately, this film also marks the point where Godzilla movies started to become (too) silly at times. But no movie is perfect, and this for shure is a must-own for EVERY science-fiction fan out there. In it's original version only, of course!

In ancient China, martial-arts master Li Mu Bai wants to avenge his own master, who was killed by a mysterious assassin called Jade Fox. He receives help from beautiful Yu Shu Lien who is a martial-arts master herself. They both are (secretly) in love but aren't brave enough to tell each other. As a mysterious thief steals Li Mu Bai's sword, he and Yu Shu Lien know that Jade Fox must be very close. Meanwhile Yu Shu Lien also became a friend of a young girl named Jen Yu. But who is she, and why does she use the very same martial arts techniques of Jade Fox, brought near to perfection even better than by Li Mu Bai's arch enemy?

This film caused gigantic hype all over the world. It's a beautiful (and somehow very sad) romance as well as an impressive martial-arts fantasy film with incredibly well choreographed action sequences. During those fights the film really manages to create an atmosphere of awe and magic. It is well worth watching for everybody interested in Eastern cinema. And Zi-Yi Zhang is absolutely gorgeous as Jen Yu! But I still don't understand why it was THIS film that caused all the hype, and then especially in the west. It never comes close to the real masterpiece of modern Hong Kong fantasy films that is, in my opinion, "A Chinese Ghost Story" and it's sequels. There are in fact lots of somehow similar, but far more beautiful movies from Asia nobody ever saw in the west, such as the Japanese "Chûshingura gaiden - Yotsuya kaidan" or the Korean film "The Gingko Bed". Maybe the best choice is to see them all!

In feudal China, the united Eight Clans must fight an evil tribe ruled by diabolical siamese twins. But young warrior Yi Hang, whose destiny is to lead the warriors of the Eight Clans against the evil forces, falls in love with the enemy's best warrior, wolf-girl. She was raised by wolves and became a killer under her mentors. He promises her never to distrust her, and to find a live-spending magic rose for her when she grews old and her hair becomes white. He even gives her a name, and she betrays the leader of the evil tribe who is some kind of in love with her, too. She receives brutal punishment, but is allowed to leave the tribe. But Yi Hang is forced to break his promise. He breaks wolf-girl's heart, and she becomes the bride with white hair. Her hatred starts to grow because of the disappointment... Is there a way for Yi Hang to win her heart back?

This beautiful fantasy/martial-arts/swordplay mix has become a classic of Hong Kong cinema already. It's one of the best Hong Kong movies I've ever seen and probably director Yan-Tai Yu's best film. It's stunning cinematography, really incredible (and bloody!) fight sequences, beautiful music and sad romance make it an unforgettable cinematic experience. Ching-Hsia Lin (Brigitte Lin) looks incredible as the bride with white hair, and the fights must be seen to be believed. Pure Hong Kong fantasy cinema at it's best, topped only by "A Chinese Ghost Story".

The Two pilots Kobayashi and Tsukioka must land on a remote Pacific Island and become witnesses of the fight between two giant monsters. After the battle, they both disappear into the ocean. Tsukioka informs scientists (including Dr. Yamane from the first "Godzilla" film) and the army about Godzilla and an unknown monster that looks like a prehistoric Ankylosaurus. The new monster therefor is named Angilas. Meanwhile, some bandits escape near Osaka and cause a car crash that is followed by large explosions. The fire attracts Godzilla to Osaka. The Japanese army tries to stop the monster using tanks, missiles and the air force. Then Angilas shows up too! The two monsters fight each other in the middle of the city in a brutal battle which is won by Godzilla. In order to stop him, the Osaka Defense Corps (and the two friends Kobayashi and Tsukioka) follow Godzilla to a snowy island near Hokkaido in northern Japan. Many pilots die in the final battle against the monster, as the army tries to cause an avalanche to bury Godzilla...

This is the little-known second film of the legendary Japanese Godzilla series, and the last that was filmed in black & white. It lacks, of course, most of the metaphoric meaning the first film had and is just a very entertaining, classic monster movie. The beautiful music score was composed by Masaru Satô, the favourite composer of Akira Kurosawa. It sounds a bit like a softer version of Akira Ifukube's great theme music for the first film. Like in the first "Godzilla", the black & white photography adds to the plausibility of the special effects, therefor they work really good most of the time. Probably the biggest problem with the effects is that the monsters move by far too fast in their fight scenes. But fortunately "Gojira no gyakushû" was the only Japanese monster movie ever to use this technique. Please note that this commentary is based on the original, uncut Japanese version of the film which really is the ONLY way to see it!! The American version is badly dubbed, has half of the movie cut out, inserts new scenes that don't make ANY sense, and has special effects footage stolen from other movies... it's just total crap. Everybody who is interested in seeing this film should look for the Japanese version, it's definitely worth the effort. Unfortunately, it is probably very hard to find. Despite the success of the film in Japan, the next "Godzilla" movie was not made for seven years.

A ship explodes and sinks near the coast of Japan. Soon more mysterious catastrophes occur. Navy officer Ogata gets involved in the cases surrounding these incidents. Meanwhile a village on Odo island near Japan is attacked at night during a rainstorm by a mysterious, giant creature. One of the elders tells a scary story from his youth about "Gojira", a giant, horrible monster from the seas. Then scientists, led by Dr. Yamane, arrive in the village to investigate what happened. Based on Dr. Yamane's discoverings, Japanese media start to report about the giant monster. Dr. Yamane and Ogata, who is in love with Emiko, Yamane's daughter, watch in horror as Gojira/Godzilla appears in mainland Japan and attacks Tokyo. Every measure taken by scientists and the army fails, as the giant, dinosaur-like creature attacks Japan's largest city two times, destroying everything with his radioactive breath. Yes, Gojira is the consequence of the A-bombs that hit Japan during the recent war, come back to life because of them. When the monster leaves the burning city, panic and tragedy is everywhere, the hospitals are filled with wounded and dying people and crying children. Hopelessness once again fills people's heart, and shocked Emiko breaks a promise: She tells Ogata of her cousin, scientist Daisuke Serizawa (who loves Emiko too), and his well-protected secret. It's called the oxygen-destroyer, and it is the most horrible weapon ever created by mankind. Now it's the last and only hope against Godzilla, and it's use will seal Dr. Serizawa's fate...

So goes the story of "Gojira", one of the two greatest classics of Japanese cinema (the other being "Shichinin no samurai", made the same year by the same film studios and even featuring some of the same actors - like Takashi Shimura). There are still some people thinking of this as a "B" movie - they are as wrong as one can be. Made by Tôhô Eiga Company, Japan's largest movie company, that had to stop two other big projects in order to finish work on "Gojira", it became the most expensive Asian movie ever made at the time of it's release, costing 62'893'455 Yen. Back then, this was around US-$ 1'000'000. Surrounded by a tragic case in which a fisherman died because of radioactivity, the film became a gigantic success in Japan (and later in the US, too). Otherwise, Tôhô studios would have collapsed because of the film's costs, if it's true what I heard. Fortunately, this never happened! Instead, it became one of the most popular Japanese films ever, and rightly so, because the film is a timeless masterpiece. Cut to shreds in every version seen outside of Japan, this refers to the original Japanese version only!! The Americanized version is one of the worst: Removing half of the original footage, it includes senseless new scenes (shot in one day!) and still runs 16 mins shorter than the original version at 96 mins.! But the original film, being one of the most anti-American movies ever made with it's metaphoric message, was impossible to release in the USA... The one and only version to see is the Japanese one. It's, without a doubt, one of the best SF/horror films ever.